


Looking for Love

by princessgrouch



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-08 09:43:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10383867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princessgrouch/pseuds/princessgrouch





	

Merlin’s looking around the classroom as he takes his seat. The other students are jostling their way and settling in as well. A new school, first day, the amalgamation of four separate districts, all bussed in to this one new high school.

It was Merlin’s last year of high school. He had a letter from his mom to the teacher of this his first class, a man named Gaius White, an old friend who had known his father, way back when. But Merlin wanted to make friends on his own, discover his own path. Not be protected (chaperoned) through the first harrowing days. His palm itched.

*****

Arthur was laughing and joking with his buddies as they found desks near one another. His blond hair shone as much as his eyes, and his smile was broad and white. Huffing out a final breath of joviality, he plopped down into his chair and looked up to where the teacher was arranging his papers haphazardly on his desk at the front of the class. This was going to be brilliant.

Arthur ventured a gaze across the classroom, just to see if anything, anyone, stood out. Imminent, imminent, that’s what the lady had said. Father would kill him if he knew, but Morgana had found this woman through her scary older half-sister, and they had gone to have their palms read. It was all mumbo-jumbo, a scam, according to their father. People who did that sort of stuff needed to be removed from society, and Uther Pendragon did everything in his power to see that they were locked away, their dubious practices condemned.

But it had always intrigued Arthur, though he’d never have admitted it. He just never thought he’d have the opportunity to try it out anyway. Then, last week, Morgana had dragged him out to this little kiosk down by Fisher King’s Pier. Morgause told her about it, she explained, which caused Arthur to hesitate.

“What, exactly, is IT?” he asked, pulling back on her arm.

“Palm reading,” Morgana answered, breathless with excitement. “Don’t you want to know if you have a heart on your love line?” And there it was. With a special incantation, and some water from the well of the triple goddess, a heart would appear on your palm if you had met your true love. And Morgana knew Arthur was a romantic at heart.

They had gone inside the little, stifling tent, and paid the exorbitant fee. Not many people could afford this, and even fewer could locate a palm reader, and even then you didn’t have any guarantees they were genuine. And if you hadn’t met your true love, well, that was just tough luck.

Morgana went first, Arthur looking on. It was quite simple, really, a muttered foreign-sounding word, and a splash of water out of an old pop bottle. But there, plain as plain can be, a delicate pink heart appeared at the juncture of two lines on Morgana’s palm.

“I knew it!” Morgana bounced excitedly. “It’s Leon! We both thought so.” Arthur frowned.

“How do you know it’s him though?” he argued. “Just because you’re together, it doesn’t mean it couldn’t be someone else you already know.” Morgana arched an eyebrow at him, like he was some sort of idiot. The exotic-looking palm reader explained.

“The heart actually appears when you’ve fallen in love and they’ve fallen in love with you,” she told him. “Believe me, once you know them, you will not be sidetracked. Nobody else will appeal to you whatsoever.”

“Then why do this?” Arthur asked. “Why bother finding out, if you could just fall in love anyway, and just live happily ever after and all that rot?”

“Some people settle for less,” she told him pityingly. “Some people don’t wait long enough. And some will never have true love. People want to know, so they can decide if they are with the right person, if their love is the best they will ever have.”

“Father doesn’t approve of this,” Arthur muttered, not intending to be overheard.

“Your father found his one true love,” the woman said plainly. “He had a heart on his palm once.”

“But my mother died when I was born,” Arthur said, horrified at the implication.

“That is why he is against palm reading. His heart was broken, and he had no more hope for love.” The lady reached out for Arthur’s hand. “Your turn.” Arthur let her take his hand and turn it up, too startled to stop her.

The word, the water, then the wait. Arthur examined his palm anxiously. Morgana bent in to look as well. It was just wet. Arthur let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, and looked away in disappointment.

The lady turned his hand this way and that. “No, there is something....” Arthur’s eyes shot back to his palm. “Look, here, very faint. Do you see it?” Arthur squinted. Was that a shadow or a rash of some sort? The faint mark COULD be a red heart, if you used a lot of imagination. The lady smiled mysteriously.

“What? What is it? Why’s it so faint?” Arthur asked, worried. Was his true love dying, or something?

“It is rare, but some loves are so powerful, they stain backward through time. Not very far, but there you have it. Your love will be extremely strong, and should become apparent sometime in the next couple of weeks, I should guess.” The lady sat back at last, nodded dismissively, and as they went out into the sunlight they heard her call after them, “Congratulations!”

So, now, here in the classroom, with old and new classmates, Arthur scanned the room, just looking for love. His palm itched.

*****

Oh, frig, he just knocked some bloke's books off his desk, now everyone was staring at him. Merlin gave the blond boy a wry smile, hoping it would be enough to diffuse the situation. Please, no agitation! The blond stared back at him, not deigning to make a move to pick up the books. Merlin's smile faded, and he quickly bent down to get the books. Oops. Not a friend, then.


End file.
